Anyone who thinks of an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) as a glorified cruise missile with a landing gear is in for a surprise in 2006 when the Boeing X-45C and Northrop Grumman X-47B make their first flights. Both these aircraft, built for the demonstration phase of the Pentagon's Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS), will be sophisticated, stealthy aircraft fitted with state-of-the-art avionics, tipping the scales at an F-16-like 36,000 pounds or more.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) formed the J-UCAS office late last year, absorbing a number of separate UCAV efforts. Its main goals, before the end of the decade, are to demonstrate vital technologies for USAF and U.S. Navy UCAVs - showing, for example, that unmanned aircraft can land on a carrier and be refueled in flight - and to produce a batch of UCAVs that can be used for an intensive operational evaluation.
The X-45C is a flying-wing vehicle, three times heavier than the X-45A, two of which are now being tested at Edwards. The weight has been driven up by a number of factors: the closure of key bases in the invasion of Iraq, which forced U.S. fighters to fly very long missions; U.S. commanders' lack of enthusiasm for a system that would only be removed from its sealed container in time of war; and the USAF's decision to assign the UCAV to a unique and dangerous mission, loitering over defended areas, jamming and threatening hostile radars for as long as it takes manned airplanes to get in and get out. The goal for J-UCAS is a 3.5-hour endurance, 1,000 nmi from base. Boeing is teamed with General Electric on the project.
Northrop Grumman's X-47B is even larger, at 42,000 pounds, with a shape reminiscent of the B-2. The company is teamed with Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney. So far, the primary task of the X-47B will be demonstrating carrier-landing technology - not just catching an arrester wire safely, but moving autonomously around the deck.
Both aircraft are intended to carry two 2,000-pound class Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guided bombs internally, or eight or more Small Diameter Bombs. The Navy also wants to carry reconnaissance sensors, and the USAF wants to fit its UCAV with high-powered jamming systems. Operating deep within hostile territory, the UCAVs will also carry two-way satcom links.
The UCAVs will have to be extremely stealthy - because they will not have air-to-air radar to detect an attack, maneuverability or speed to avoid it, or air-to-air weapons to shoot back. They will operate largely autonomously and will be able to generate tactical plans as a group of aircraft. (For instance, four UCAVs should be able to switch a jamming signal from one aircraft to another, preventing an enemy from locating the signal's source.)
A very important part of J-UCAS is a common technologies program - developing standards and common components for sensor, communications and computer systems. The idea is that Navy and USAF UCAVs should work seamlessly together, with a common upgrade path, and that new UCAVs - perhaps a highly agile aircraft or a supersonic long-range vehicle - can be integrated into the same system.
There is no international participation in J-UCAS as yet, and exports are likely to be covered by the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) that covers theater-range missiles. However, J-UCAS program director Mike Francis has made a point of attending international UCAV conferences and has expressed the view that - like JSF - J-UCAS will become international as it moves out of DARPA.
Boeing is in Hall 3, Stand A1 and Chalet B1-6, and Northrop Grumman is in Hall 5, Stand ISP21, Chalet A1-4 and OE3 & 6.
